Cabinet construction



Oct. 24, 1950 c. E. HEILIG, JR 2,526,747

CABINET CONSTRUCTION Filed July 50, 1946 IN V EN TOR. was 1 55 6. mm /c;JR.

Patented Oct. 24, 1 950 CABINET CONSTRUCTION Charles E. Heilig, Jr.,Llanercli Hills, Pa., assignor 'to Philco Corporation, Philadelphia,Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application July 30, 1946, Serial N0.687105 2 Claims. I

The present invention relates to cabinet construction, and is especiallyconcerned with the construction of refrigerator cabinets of the typeincluding a relatively heavy door mounted for opening movements about asubstantially vertical axis.

Refrigerators of this character have long been subject to a difficultyin that they tend to rock or wobble as the walls are stressed by openingand closing movements of the main door. With the advent of refrigeratorsof larger cubic capacity, and the consequent increase of door size andweight, this problem has become particularly annoying. In suchrefrigerators it has been observed that during opening or closingmovements ofthe door, particularly when such movements are effected withconsiderable force, there is noticeable warping of the cabinet andconsequent instability.

In studies of this problem, leading up to the making of the presentinvention, I found that opening and closing of the door subjects thecabinet to rather complex forces. This problem of cabinet instabilitywas solved by careful analysis of the manner in which these forces areapplied, and the solution was found to lie in so reinforcing the cabinetas to prevent relative displacement of certain portions thereof.

In this connection, it was found that during opening movements of thedoor (assuming righthand hinging thereof), due to the fact that theweight of the door is applied through an increasing moment arm (withrespect to the plane of the front of the cabinet), there is anincreasing force tending to rotate the right-hand side wall of thecabinet forwardly. This force results in an appreciable rotation of theright side wall, forwardly about the front lower corner of said wall.Similarly, during closing movements, the diminution of this force tendsto permit a corresponding inclination of the cabinet rearwardly. Attimes it has even been found that there occurs an oscillatory rocking ofthe entire cabinet. Thus, during the completion of one opening andclosing movement there may occur an angular displacement of the twowalls, with relation to one another, amounting to several degrees. Thistype of displacement, or warping of the cabinet, causes theobjectionable instability. By preventing such relative angular rotationof the two side walls, and preferably in the region of the lower portionof the cabinet, it is possible to substantially eliminate thedifilculty, and this without increasing the cost or complexity of thecabinet structure.

With the foregoing premises in mind, it is the primary object of thepresent invention to provide a sturdy cabinet which is not subject toobjectionable rocking movements when the door of levelling supports, ofthe type commonly employed in refrigerators, is considerably simplified,and that the construction permits greater freedom in designing adecorative toeplate, by virtue of making it unnecessary for that memberto serve as a strength-increasing part of the cabinet base structure.

In the achievement of the foregoing general ends, the invention providesa frame member of substantially U-shape-the opposed leg portions ofwhich are each secured to one of said side walls and disposed insubstantially coplanar relationin novel combination with a substantiallycylindrical torque rod extending between and into engagement with saidopposed portions. From the foregoing it will be recognized that thewallengaging portions of this frame member are subject to forces tendingto produce displacement out of their normal coplanar relation, as, thewalls are stressed by forcible opening and closing movements of thedoor, and that such displacement movements of said wall-engagingportions are substantially eliminated by the use of the torque rodaforesaid.

The invention extends further to certain details of constructionalarrangement fully set forth in the following specification andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary view, in perspective, illustrating the lowerportion of a refrigerator cabinet incorporating the reinforcingstructure of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective illustration of the frame member-torque rodassembly;

Figure 3 is a sectional illustration, on an enlarged scale, illustratingthe association of the torque rod with the adjacent portions of theframe member and the manner in which the frame assembly may serve as asupport for the cabinet;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3, and further illustrates themanner in which cabinet levelling supports may readily be included inthe construction; and

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken as indicated by the line 5-5 appliedto Figure 1.

Referring now in more detail to the aboveidentified figures, it is seenthat the construction includes a refrigerator cabinet designated,generally, by the reference character 2, which cabinet includes rightand left side walls of sheet metal, hown at 3 and 4, respectively, theillustrated portion of the cabinet being divided into an upper foodstorage compartment 5 and a lower machine compartment 6, in accordancewith usual practice. A portion of the main door is shown at D in Figure1.

In particular accordance with this invention, the cabinet is supportedupon and reinforced by the frame member indicated at l, in Figures 1 and2, which frame member is fabricated in U-shape of stock having suitableL-shaped crosssectional configuration. As best appears in Figures 1 and3, the right and left leg portions of the frame illustrated at 8 and 9,respectively, are engaged with and suitably secured to the adjacentlower sections of the cabinet walls 3 and 4. To this end, each of saidwalls is provided with an inwardly turned flange, see for example flangeill of side wall 3, which flanges are spot welded or otherwise suitablysecured to the underlying horizontal flanging of the legs of thereinforcing and supporting frame 7. A cylindrical torque rod, or bar ll,extends between and has its opposite ends welded to the legs of theframe, as represented at I2, in Figure 3. This bar should be of a steelhaving considerable rigidity, and the crosssectional area thereof willbe primarily determined by the span of the reinforcing frame.

As fully brought out above, the walls of the cabinet are so stressed,during opening and closing movements of the main door D, as to tend todisplace their lower edges and consequently, the legs 8 and 9 of theframe member I, out of the normal coplanar relationship. B'y provisionof the torque r'od H, particularly when this rod is located between andsecured to the forward portions of the legs 8 and 9, such displacementis effectively prevented, and the cabinet is rendered highly stable, andthis by a simple and inexpensive construction.

As shown in Figure 4, provision for adjustable levelling supports, suchas those shown at 13, may very readily be made, by suitably aperturingthe horizontal flange and the inwardly extending flanges of the sidewalls, as represented at 14. An internally threaded bushing [5 extendsthrough the aligned apertures, and has a collar l6 which may be weldedor otherwise secured to the lower surfaces of the angular frame member.The support [3 may be adjusted with respect to the cabinet assembly byrotating its mounting stud I'I within the bushing [5. As will beevident, such a levelling support would be provided in the region ofeach of the four corners of the cabinet.

As clearly appears in Figure 5, the construction has the furtheradvantage-that it lends itself well to the inclusion of support membersupon which may be carried the motor-compressor (not shown). One of thesesupport members is designated I 8, in Figure 5, and as appears in thatfigure, the support member is of channel configuration and is provided,at each end thereof, with downwardly extending flanges. The forwardflange, shown at It, is formed arcuately to embrace the torque rod I l,to which it may be welded, while the rear flange 20 extends verticallydownward and is secured to the rear cross-rail of reinforcing frame I.

From the foregoing description, it is evident that the inventionprovides a unitary structure which serves both to support the cabinet,and to effectively prevent instability thereof. Further more, theseadvantages are realized at a minimum of cost and without sacrifice ofsimplicity.

I claim:

1. In a refrigerator cabinet defined by main walls and having arelatively heavy door mounted for opening movements about asubstantially vertical axis extending adjacent a corner portion of thecabinet, a frame extending between an opposed pair of walls and adaptedto reinforce said walls to prevent warping movements of the cabinet asthe walls are stressed by forcible opening and closing movements of, thedoor, said frame being of substantially U-shape and having each of itsopposed leg portions secured to one of said main walls, said legportions being disposed in substantially coplanar relation and beingsubject to forces tending to produce displacement out of such relationas the walls are stressed by opening and closing movements of the door,and means for preventing warping movements of the cabinet by preventingsuch displacement of. said leg portions, said means comprising acylindrical torque rod extending between and being secured to saidopposed leg portions in the region of the free ends thereof in suchmanner that relative rotation of said rod with respect to said legportions is sub stantially prevented.

2. A construction in accordance with claim 1, and further including apair of members extending between and secured to both said torque rodand the base portion of said U-shaped frame in general parallelism withsaid opposed leg portions, and providing a platformadapted for thesupport of machinery.

CHARLES E. HEILIG, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS I Date

